PREP2-Q18

evelyn205205

Although the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, it had not been announced until February, 1968.

(A) Although the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, it had not been announced until February, 1968.
(B) Although not announced until February, 1968, in the summer of 1967 graduate student Jocelyn Bell observed the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted.
(C) Although observed by graduate student Jocelyn Bell in the summer of 1967, the discovery of the first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, had not been announced before February, 1968.
(D) The first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968.
(E) The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was not announced until February, 1968, while it was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell.

答案是D。不是很理解D中to be sighted was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell在句子中的成分。
to be sighted作定语为什么要用将来时呢？

vivian2011

来自曼哈顿的解释：

'to be sighted' is better for at least two reasons.

(1) 'first NOUN to be VERBed' is generally the preferred form in discussing the results of human efforts/actions/interference/perception/etc., while 'first VERBed NOUN' is generally used to indicate inherent qualities of the noun.
for instance, the following sentence is preferred:
henry bishop was the first musician to be knighted by a british monarch. --> knighting is performed by humans
the following is NOT preferred:
henry bishop was the first knighted musician in britain. --> this makes it seem as though being 'knighted' is an inherent quality with which henry bishop was born, or that he acquired it naturally/accidentally in some other way

(2) the word 'sighted' means 'having the sense of sight', so this sentence also contains the amusing alternative interpretation of referring to a pulsar that can actually see.

Gellar wrote:
Meanwhile, what's wrong with choice E? Thanks


first of all, the word 'discovery' is missing. that's a crucial shift in meaning: it's the discovery, not the pulsar itself, that was 'announced'.
also, the word 'while' - which is sometimes used to indicate contrast - creates a strange ambiguity here: on first reading, it appears to suggest that the announcement (which took place in '68) happened during the summer of '67; this is the usual sense of 'while' occurring in this place in a sentence. (normally, if used to mark contrast, 'while' appears at the beginning of a subordinate clause.)

http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/although-the-first-pulsar-or-rapidly-spinning-collapsed-t3500.html

mursili

我赞同first to do的用法，to do后面是修饰成分，其实也表示“可见的”意思，整个first to do phrase 是主语的必要限制成分，用来指定特定的某个事物。
如果去掉to do的成分，句子主语就变成了first pulsar，意思就完全不一样了。
如果只是将to do看作将来时态的修饰的话，感觉还是强调the first pulsar作为主语，类似于the first pulsar, which will be sighted, ....关于非限定和限定修饰，manhattan上面有具体的解释。在一个，如果理解为“将来会被看到”，我觉得其实和句意是矛盾的，因为如果它被observe了,那肯定被observe的同时就已经被sight了，这两个动作是同时的，应该是同一个时态，没有必要再加一个时态来confuse。
以上是我的看法。。。。

Tobelogical

ls说的很有道理～

evelyn205205

我觉得不能分着看，这里关键是前面有first，其实就是the first to do，由于star只能被sighted，所以说the first star to be sighted，这里中间夹了修饰语。

-- by 会员 maxawei (2011/8/8 15:10:42)

但是如果写成
The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968
也是对的。

-- by 会员 Tobelogical (2011/8/8 15:19:58)

我从来没见过first sighted直接修饰的用法，我google了一下，也没找到相似的例子，也许我错了，但是我认为这不是很English的说法。


关于the first to be，我还找到了这个例子：
Dolly (5 July 1996 – 14 February 2003) was a female domestic sheep, and the first mammal to be clonedfrom an adult somaticcell, using the process of nuclear transfer.
来自：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep)


这里我觉得并没有将来的意思，就是the first to do的用法。。。欢迎指正

-- by 会员 maxawei (2011/8/8 15:32:39)

恩，非常感谢，是the first to do的搭配。
但是你说的the first sighted不能理解为第一颗被肉眼看到的pulsar么？

maxawei

我觉得不能分着看，这里关键是前面有first，其实就是the first to do，由于star只能被sighted，所以说the first star to be sighted，这里中间夹了修饰语。

-- by 会员 maxawei (2011/8/8 15:10:42)

但是如果写成
The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968
也是对的。

-- by 会员 Tobelogical (2011/8/8 15:19:58)

我从来没见过first sighted直接修饰的用法，我google了一下，也没找到相似的例子，也许我错了，但是我认为这不是很English的说法。


关于the first to be，我还找到了这个例子：
Dolly (5 July 1996 – 14 February 2003) was a female domestic sheep, and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer.
来自：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep)


这里我觉得并没有将来的意思，就是the first to do的用法。。。欢迎指正

evelyn205205

我觉得不能分着看，这里关键是前面有first，其实就是the first to do，由于star只能被sighted，所以说the first star to be sighted，这里中间夹了修饰语。

-- by 会员 maxawei (2011/8/8 15:10:42)

一语道破天机啊，NN！厉害！

evelyn205205

我觉得不能分着看，这里关键是前面有first，其实就是the first to do，由于star只能被sighted，所以说the first star to be sighted，这里中间夹了修饰语。

-- by 会员 maxawei (2011/8/8 15:10:42)

但是如果写成
The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968
也是对的。

-- by 会员 Tobelogical (2011/8/8 15:19:58)

也就是E前面也对，但是E错在后面的it存在指代不清的嫌疑，对么？

Tobelogical

我觉得不能分着看，这里关键是前面有first，其实就是the first to do，由于star只能被sighted，所以说the first star to be sighted，这里中间夹了修饰语。

-- by 会员 maxawei (2011/8/8 15:10:42)

但是如果写成
The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968
也是对的。

evelyn205205

所以bala说的是有道理的，to be sighted表示这颗星还没有被发现，如果用sighted说明这颗星已经被发现过了。

-- by 会员 Tobelogical (2011/8/8 14:07:49)

恩，一下子明白了，语境！！！